346 PKOCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 15, 



Lakes. 



Evanger Yand 3 miles from Fjord. 



Hardanger f Eidsfjord Vand ly 



Fjord. { Gravens Yand 2 



( Bredeims Yand 3 



Nord I Oldens Yand 1 



Fjord. *S Lodens Yand 2 



[^Opstryns Yand* 4|- 



The height of this harrier may be as much as 120 feet above the 

 lake, in terraces one above the other. At the inner end of the lake 

 a similar terraced deposit frequently occurs. This is the case at 

 Yasenden, at the inner end of Gravens Yand, and at Ssebb at the 

 inner end of Eidsfjord Yand, which one passes on the way from Yik 

 to the Yoring-foss. This latter lake is \\ mile long and ^ mile 

 wide, and, according to the peasants, 200 feet deep. The sides rise 

 from the water to a height of 1000 feet, so abruptly that land- 

 ing is impossible. They are smoothed, and striated horizontally ; 

 and these marks of glacial action continue beyond the lake-barrier 

 for some distance on the sides of the fjord. The rolled pebbles and 

 coarse sand, of which the barrier consists, are disposed in terraces at 

 four distinct levels, the highest being about 100 feet; and similar 

 terraces, to about the same heigbt, exist at the inner end of the lake. 



Stratified deposits of a similar character, disposed in terraces, are 

 very general, and occur not only where there is no evidence of the 

 existence of a former glacier, but where the presumption is altogether 

 the other way. Keilhau has traced such deposits, in connexion with 

 lines of erosion, from Lindesnces to the North Cape, and has shown 

 that sea-shells of existing species are constantly found in deposits 

 the formation of which is intimately connected with that of the 

 terraces. M. Bravais bas studied in detail the terraces in Alten 

 Fjord, and describes them as composed of debris brought down by 

 the rivers, and deposited in what was then an arm of the sea. Ter- 

 races frequently line the sides of the wider valleys for a considerable 

 distance from their present junction with the fjord, and in some cases 

 appear to be the remains of a lake-deposit, much of which has been 

 cut away by the river, which now runs perhaps 200 feet below. A 

 moraine-like look is sometimes given by the occurrence of numerous 

 angular blocks in the stratified sand ; these, however, have come from 

 the boundary- walls of the valley, whence fragments are detached in 

 numbers every spring. 



But, while bearing in mind these facts, must we not rather attribute 

 the accumulations, with the deep lakes behind, to glacial action ? "We 

 must then suppose that the barrier between the lake and the fjord 

 represents a terminal moraine deposited beneath the waters of what 

 was then a fjord, at a time when a glacier filled the valley and stretched 

 down part of the fjord. A comparatively rapid decrease in the length 



* For some of these lakes the writer cannot answer from personal knowledge ; 

 but it is believed that all, and many others not named, are of the character under 

 notice. 



